


Argumentation Strategies

by langsdelijn



Category: Sports RPF
Genre: F/M, NOS-NOC/NSF Sportgala 2014
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-18
Updated: 2014-12-18
Packaged: 2018-03-02 02:44:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2796767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/langsdelijn/pseuds/langsdelijn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sven and Naomi are the picture of professionalism.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Argumentation Strategies

After the applause, Humberto Tan starts to speak again. Since he’s there, she supposes the footballers must have won it, which isn’t very surprising. In fact, she voted for them herself. 

‘The winner of NOS/NOC*NSF Sportgala 2014 Team of the Year,’ he begins, and pauses to get the card out of the envelope, and she knows they haven’t won it when he continues, ‘even if you don’t win, you can win,’ even before he announces the national football team as winners.

Oh, well. She would’ve liked for her team to have won it, but football is the biggest sport in the country, and third at the World Cup is a more special achievement than hockey world champions, even if theirs was that much more special for being at home. 

Still… 

Naomi playfully, and (she hopes) stealthily, jabs Sven with her elbow. ‘This is all your fault,’ she says, mock-disgruntled. ‘You ruined it for me.’

Sven snorts. ‘Maybe you should’ve won the Champions Trophy then,’ he shoots back.

‘Anyway,’ he goes on, already chuckling at his own joke, ‘obviously hockey can’t be any good if we keep winning at it! Obviously, it’s just a minor sport only we take seriously.’

She tries to jab him again, but this time Sven’s blocking her reach with his arm, so she just lightly bumps his arm as if she’s trying to get his attention.

‘Don’t you dare,’ she warns. ‘And let me remind you all you do is go around in circles on sticks of iron.’

‘Unlike hockey, which is—’

‘Stop it!’

‘What? You started it,’ Sven protests, but wisely abandons the rhyme. 

Around them, the applause is dying back down and the small delegation from the national football team is getting to the stage. 

‘You did ruin it, though,’ she adds hurriedly, eager to get the last word. ‘With your stupid column.’

‘You’re just jealous my sport’s more popular,’ Sven whispers back.

‘Are you sure that’s what you want to go with? Because it made no sense. Unless there’s someone in there I should be jealous of…?’

Sven huffs, but so quietly that she only notices it because she feels his movement through the arm pressed to his. ‘Is this about Håvard? Again?’

‘Hmm?’

Sven takes her teasing about Håvard so seriously that she can never help herself. (She’s fairly sure she could accuse him of secretly being married to Wouter and he’d get less defensive than when she suggests anything about him and Håvard other than Sven prefers him to her playing video games.) And, honestly, it’s not her fault he immediately suspects she’s talking about him even though she was just talking about his column (that he wasn’t in), and the guy’s not even Dutch and thus irrelevant to the conversation. But, this time, she meant someone else and she can’t wait to see if he’ll get weird about this, too.

‘Oh, no, I meant Ireen.’

Sven goes very still, and from the corner of her eyes Naomi can see his face go red. He sputters, which he tries to hide behind a cough, as he tries not to make a scene. She grins, satisfied.

On stage, the trophy is passed around until it gets pressed into Robin van Persie’s hands. As a somewhat reluctant Robin begins his acceptance speech, Sven retaliates with a swift kick sideways—which, thanks to his pre-occupation is misaimed and harmlessly deflects off her shoe.

**Author's Note:**

> Reference is to Sven's column in _de Telegraaf_ , where he said some things about the way the Dutch 'Sport [X] of the Year' is awarded and footballers and speed skaters wouldn't win because those're the two big sports here (but actually in every category where someone football-related was nominated, they won) and that it would be an outrage if Ireen Wüst didn't win Female Athlete of the Year (she did).


End file.
